Do as we say, not as we do

The US does not like comparisons between Jordan’s offer of a prisoner swap and its own.

Mother of the Jordanian pilot joins protest for his release

Do as we say, not as we do.

That seems to be the message from the US government as it deflects questions about a Jordanian pilot held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, and its own handling of a recent prisoner-of-war swap.

Jordan says it is ready to exchange a prisoner convicted on terrorism charges for captive pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh, whose jet crashed near Raqqa in Syria in December.

Officials in Washington spent Wednesday reiterating their policy of not giving “concessions to terrorists” in the words of Jen Psaki, State Department spokesperson.

But the situation strikes some as analogous to that of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, an army solider who, after five years as a prisoner of war in Afghanistan, was exchanged for five members of the Taliban held at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Admiral John Kirby, Pentagon spokesperson, dismissed the connection, saying the Bergdahl case “was not a hostage situation. He was being held in captivity by opposing forces”.

Kirby tried to make it clear that the government sees a big difference between the Taliban and ISIL.

“ISIS is not in the same situation or category as the Taliban in terms of legitimacy as an opposing force,” he said, using another common acronym for ISIL.

Source: Al Jazeera